I was wondering if anyone had any free software to recommend for moving files from my laptop to an external hard drive. I am concerned with data loss or file corruption with my music files.
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file transfer software
- Thread starter wanton789
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firestarter
macrumors 603
To back up your entire drive to an external drive, this is one of the best apps:
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
You can use the basic features for free.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
You can use the basic features for free.
~Shard~
macrumors P6
I don't necessarily want back up my entire drive, I just want to move all the files on to the external HD... I suppose I could still use this tool and then delete everything but that doesn't seem very efficient.
Is there software that would just move all the files and tell me that it did it correctly and without any damage? Maybe a program that would copy all of the files onto my HD and then delete them from my laptop? I could easily do this myself with cut and paste... but again I am concerned with data loss. Is data loss even an issue with using the cut function?
firestarter
macrumors 603
Just using the finder and dragging the directory should be reliable and trustworthy.
It sounds like you're wanting to create space on your laptop by moving these important files off, then deleting the originals. The fact that you're paranoid makes me question whether you have a proper backup at the moment?
You really need to have these files in 2 places at once, in case one drive dies.
It sounds like you're wanting to create space on your laptop by moving these important files off, then deleting the originals. The fact that you're paranoid makes me question whether you have a proper backup at the moment?
You really need to have these files in 2 places at once, in case one drive dies.
I did drop my external hard drive once, with my music ONLY on it. It broke instantly. I just got a time capsule and plan to back up everything on that, while using my external HD for music, freeing up space on my mpb. So yea I am a little paranoid, the music is only on my laptop currently, but soon enough I will be safe.
I will just use the finder to copy those files to my external HD then.
Since I now know of those programs... shouldn't I just use those instead of Time Machine all together? If my laptop were to fail wouldn't I want to have a bootable backup of my drive? (Besides the fact that Time Machine convieniently backs up all time).
firestarter
macrumors 603
While SuperDuper! and CCC are both great apps, and are better than Time Machine in that the backups are bootable - they're only good if you actually use them.
The great feature about Time Machine is that it's automatic set-and-forget. You can't forget to backup. I think you should just use that.
The great feature about Time Machine is that it's automatic set-and-forget. You can't forget to backup. I think you should just use that.
Awesome thanks for all the fast replies.. delete/lock this thread or whatever you do.
~Shard~
macrumors P6
Time Machine is good if you're lazy and don't want to take the time to think about backing up your system or even know that you should be backing up in the first place. 😛 😉 Seriously, it does have its advantages over SD and CCC, but I prefer the latter two due top the bootable factor and also that in my case I don't want nor need previous versions of the same file backed up on a daily basis, let alone hourly or whatever Time Machine's frequency is - it's ust not necessary.
So, in my case, I realize the importance of backing up my data and make a conscious effort to use SD once every 2-3 weeks to back up my system to an external HDD which I then store off-site as an extra step of disaster recovery. After all, backing up your data to an external HDD sitting right next to your computer won't do any good if your machine is stolen or there is a fire! 😱 Unlikely, but hey, it happens.... 😉